Impossible
by BackwordzWriter
Summary: Really random, nothing to do with emily windsnap, but still about mermaids. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!


**Impossible**

35

**Impossible**

**What do YOU believe in?**

**The BackwordzWriter**

I woke up to the sound of my 4–year-old sister screaming and my dog barking. I threw my pillow over my head and closed my eyes. My sister's screams were like my alarm. They started when my mom woke her up at 6:30 to get ready for school. When they started I knew it was time to get out of bed and get dressed. Most days I was early for school. Sometimes I didn't feel like getting out of bed. "Max! You'll miss the bus!" My mom yelled. I started feeling sorry for her. My dad left the house at 5:00 A.M. every morning, so she had to take care of four of us without any help, and that wasn't including our dog. So I rolled out of bed and pulled on my school uniform. I ran a comb through my dark brown hair and ran downstairs. My mom was making our lunches in the kitchen with my screaming sister sitting on the counter. I grabbed a frozen waffle, shoved it in the toaster, and grabbed my incomplete homework. When I finished scribbling down answers I pushed my papers into my heavy bag and picked up my slightly burnt waffle. My 16-year-old sister Marcy rushed downstairs and grabbed her bag. "Hey Max, isn't that skirt a bit big for you?" She asked as she searched her pink bag full of junk for her lip-gloss. I looked down at my long school skirt that was almost falling down and shrugged. "It's your old one," I said. I had two older sisters and I got their hand-me-downs. My mom didn't see the point in buying me new clothes. But since I was so tiny not many of their clothes fit me. My mom used safety pins, but my clothes still looked shabby and big. At school I got teased a lot, but I was used to it. Just then my 17-year-old sister Mel rushed downstairs and grabbed her bag. "Aren't you going to eat breakfast?" I asked. She adjusted her way too short school skirt and said, "Breakfast makes you fat. Not you, Max, because you have, like, a disease or something." "Aren't you taking the bus to school?" My mom asked as she threw our lunches to us. "No. Some friends are driving me. THEY actually have cars!" Mel stomped out the door showing off her school shoes that people had actually signed. I mean, who had their friends sign their SHOES? My mom sighed and picked Madison up off the counter and set her on the seat beside me. I swallowed the last bite of my waffle and peeked out the window.

"The school bus still isn't here!" I moaned.

"Do you want me to drive you? I'm driving Madison to school so I could-"

"NO!" Marcy and I both yelled at the same time. I grabbed my bag away from Madison and dusted it off. "Black is such a yucky color," Marcy said as she zipped her own pink bag. "Yeah! Yucky color!" Madison repeated. Marcy laughed. Madison worshiped her and agreed with anything Marcy said. Just then the bus pulled up in front of our house. I slung my bag over my shoulder and ran out the door. The bus doors opened and I jumped inside. I saw my best friend Hailey sitting by one of her new friends, Selena. In the seat behind them was Sadie and Genie and in the seat in front of them sat Claire and Kylie. Hailey didn't even wave. She continued chattering away with the group happily. I felt Marcy push me from behind and I stumbled toward the back where I sat in an empty seat. I pressed my nose against the window and dropped my bag on my feet. When the bus started again I glanced over at Hailey again. She and Selena, Sadie, Genie, Claire, and Kylie were all laughing over something Selena had said. I saw Selena shoot me a mean look and Hailey caught my eye for a second. She quickly looked away when she saw I was looking at her. I sighed and searched for Marcy. She was sitting with her best friend Paige and they were talking to two other girls in their grade. Marcy saw me sitting alone, but she didn't invite me to sit with her and her friends like a good sister would. All of a sudden the bus came to an abrupt stop and the doors flew open. Three girls and five boys boarded the bus. Two of the girls took the seat across from Selena and Hailey. The other girl was heading my way. When she got to my seat she asked, "Can I sit here?" I nodded my head. She flopped down beside me and started doing her homework. She took out an iPod and started to listen. The girl glanced my way and said, "You want to listen?" I shrugged. She handed me a headphone to put in my ear. When we got to the school I took the headphone out of my ear and handed it to her. She smiled at me. "I'm Carly."

"I'm Max."

"Cool! I've always wanted a boy name." I could tell she wanted to say more, but we had to get off the bus or the bus driver would kick us out herself. Hailey had the locker next to me, so I saw her before 1st period.

When I got to my locker Hailey was standing at hers with Selena, Claire, Kylie, Sadie, and Genie. I flung open my locker and traded my math book for my science book and put my history book away and grabbed my Latin notebook. Everything else was in my bag so I slung my bag over my shoulder and was about to run to Latin when Hailey said, "Maxine!" I hated it when people called me Maxine. I hated that name. Whenever I thought of Maxine I thought of a fox. And if I was any animal other than a human I would probably be a squirrel. But I turned around so I was face to face with my best friend. "What?" I asked in an annoyed tone. "Everybody, this is my friend Maxine. Maxine this is-"

"I know who everybody is." I said in an even more annoyed tone.

"Are you, like, new?" Claire asked me.

"No." I said rolling my eyes.

"Anyway, do you want to come to the mall with us after school?" Hailey asked sounding annoyed at both of us. "No." I turned on my heel and walked away. Hailey caught up to me.

"You're totally embarrassing me! OMG can't you even act like you're nice? I know you must be mad about me not saving you a seat today on the bus, but still! And you seemed to be having fun with that freaky girl with black hair." She exclaimed.

"Hailey, I'm not mad about the bus." I replied calmly.

"Then what are you mad about?" She asked dumbly. "I'm mad about you sitting with numbskulls and conversing about 'what's hot and what's not' and 'what shade of makeup fits YOU best' and then expecting me to just GO ALONG WITH IT!" I was yelling by the end of my little speech and everyone in the hall was staring at me. I stomped to Latin. When I opened the door there were only a few kids sitting around. I went to an empty desk and dumped my bag by the seat. I saw Claire and Sadie whispering in a corner and every other girl in the room was gathered around them "Poor Hailey!" I heard someone say. I flopped down into the seat just as our teacher Mrs. Box entered the room. Everyone ran to their seats and became silent. No one sat behind, in front, or beside me.

By lunchtime no one was talking to me. Claire probably told them that I tried to kill Hailey or something. I sat down at an empty table. I couldn't help but notice that Hailey sat at Selena's table. I heard a chair pull out beside me but I didn't turn around.

"Max? You there?" Someone asked. I turned around to see Carly looking at me.

"Oh. Hi." I said.

"What's wrong?" She asked as she sat down next to me. I opened my lunch and made a face.

"Peanut butter." I replied.

"Well, there must be something else. You look really upset." She said as she opened her own lunch. All that was in her brown paper bag was water.

"That's your lunch?" I asked in surprise.

"Duh. Anyway, back to you. What's wrong?" She repeated.

"Um… You didn't see what happened in the hall?" I asked.

"Oh! That! Yeah, wow I didn't know that girl was such a jerk."

"She's my best friend."

"She seemed to be a pretty awful 'best friend'." I sighed. "Where are you from anyway?"

"Um…I-Well…The thing is-Right… Uh…Nevada?" She seemed to have a lot of trouble answering this question so I didn't ask any more questions about her last school.

"Cool," I replied. I looked away from her and saw that Hailey and Selena were telling the other four something and laughing as they spoke. Just then I heard someone pull out the chair on the other side of me. I turned around and saw Goldie and her twin Silver sitting down at our table. Goldie claimed that she was born 10 minutes before Silver so that's why she got to be Gold and Silver got to be Silver. Silver said her parents names Goldie Gold because of her blond hair. But Goldie said that was impossible because when she was born and they named her she didn't have any hair. And so on. They had 6 other sisters (YIKES!) all named after colors because their mom was an artist. There was Maggie (Short for Magenta) who was 5, there was Emmy (short for Emerald) who was 8, there was Indigo who was 10, there was Rose who was 11, there was Red who was 13, and there was Violet who was 17. They were all nice enough, but I had never talked to the twins before just for fun.

"Hi Max!" Silver said cheerfully.

"Hi." I said.

"Hey guys! What'd you get on your Latin quiz?" Carly asked.

"I got a 78." Goldie said glumly.

"You should have let me help you study. _I_ got a 97." Silver bragged.

"I got an 86. What about you, Max?" Carly asked politely. "83." I answered.

"Gosh! Everybody did better than me!" Goldie cried.

"I didn't study either. I didn't even KNOW we had a test." I replied as I ripped my sandwich up into little pieces. We talked for the rest of lunch and I ALMOST forgot about Hailey.

At the end of the day I found a few little notes in my locker. One of them was from Hailey.

Sorry about lunch and the bus. But you should seriously come to the mall with us. It's going to be so fun! I hope you forgive me and if you don't it's your loss! - Hailey

She had written in pink pen. Pink was her favorite color. But I bet Selena would change that. Selena and all her friends thought pink was babyish. Surprisingly, the next note was from Claire.

Hailey is making me apologize for whatever I did to you. I didn't really do anything, but she said I was acting like I didn't know you. Anyway, I'm SOOO sorry that you're really sensitive and I hurt your feelings. Whatever. –Claire

I smiled when I saw that note. Claire loved purple and all her pens were different shades of purple. She had used the ugliest one. The next note was from Selena. Wow, Hailey was really trying to include me.

Come to the mall. You really don't seem so bad after all the stories Hailey told us about you. -Selena!

Hailey told them stories about me? Uh-oh! I hoped she didn't tell them the one about that one time I went to the zoo with her family… Three more notes. Wow, I was really getting popular!

Hi! What's up? Goldie, Silver, and me are going to hang out at my place after school. You want to come? Meet us outside. We have to wait for their sisters to tell them. –Carly

Hi! I hope you hang out with us after school. You seem pretty cool. I bet you can't wait to meet ALL my sisters! Hurry up and meet us outside! -~~~~~Silver~~~~~

Hi. I know that Carly and Silver expect us to meet them after school. But, you seem pretty cool, so meet me at the bus stop. We are going to have a ton of fun! You'll love what I have planned! – *Goldie*

6 notes? I rock! I knew right away that I wanted to meet Goldie. I quickly scribbled an answer to Hailey's note.

Hi Hail. Sorry I don't really want to go to the mall. I'm going to hang out with Goldie. Remember her? Anyway, she's pretty cool. Text me! –Max

I grabbed my bag and ran outside. Silver and Carly saw me first and waved. "MAX! MAX! OVER HERE!" I smiled at them and ran over.

"Sorry, I have swim practice. I can't hang out today." I tried to look upset and mad, but I knew I wasn't a very convincing actor.

"Aw! Save me a seat on the bus tomorrow." Carly said with a sympathetic look.

"Sure. See ya!" I said. I started to walk to the nearest bus stop. All of a sudden I bumped into someone. I looked up. Diana Swan was standing in front of me looking annoyed. Diana was Mel's best friend. They were both extremely popular and gorgeous. Diana was also rich. I looked nothing like Mel. She had straight blond hair with cute bangs covering one eye. I had stick straight hair that was so dark it was almost black. There was nothing special about my dark brown hair. No bangs, nothing. Mel had bright blue eyes, but they weren't very big or interesting. My best feature was my huge green eyes. They sparkled when I was happy, and if you looked closely you could see little flecks of blue. Mel was tall and skinny with no freckles and perfect lips that she always covered in lipstick. I was the shortest girl in my class and the scrawniest. I also had no freckles but my mouth was small. Diana had blond hair with bangs. Her big brown eyes made every single person she met fall in love with her. The rest of her body was exactly like a model's body. I looked up at her and she glared at me under her long eyelashes. "Where are YOU going?" I didn't answer. I walked straight past her and then broke into a run. Finally, I reached the bus stop that Goldie had been talking about. Goldie was standing on top of one of the benches leaning against the rail. Her gold hair was braided and she looked nervous.

"Goldie!" I said. She glanced down at me and smiled anxiously.

"Hi Max. Can we go to my place? I need to get a few things." Goldie looked pretty freaked out so I thought that she must have forgotten something really important.

"Sure. Why not?" She jumped off the bench and straightened her skirt.

"We need to take the bus." Goldie informed me. Just then I heard panting behind me.

"MAX! How dare you! GOLDIE! You too? TRAITORS!" Silver gasped. I grinned.

"Sorry. Goldie's note was just so mysterious! I had to see what she was talking about!"

"Are you guys coming? The bus is about to get here. I have enough money for 2 of us. Silver, can you pay the rest?" Goldie asked impatiently.

"Chill Goldie. Duh, we're coming. And I'll pay for Max and me. I have leftover lunch money." Carly said as she took out a wallet.

"Me too. I'll pay for myself." I said.

"I've got $20. I'll pay too." Silver added.

"Okay. Everyone pay for themselves." Goldie said. She sounded a little bit annoyed and I was about to ask her what was wrong when I heard someone's boots click against the sidewalk. I turned and saw Claire, Selena, Kylie, and Hailey walking towards us. They had all changed out of their uniforms and I was surprised to see that Hailey was wearing a polo shirt and white leggings with ballet flats without getting lectured by Selena about what a fashion disaster she looked like. To tell you the truth, she looked…Great. They all did. Hailey could wear whatever she wanted whenever she wanted and look like a model. Come to think of it, all of Selena's "friends" were gorgeous.

"Max! Hi! So you're coming?" Hailey squealed. I got the feeling she didn't get my note. Goldie, Silver, and Carly all looked at me.

"Um…No." I replied staring at the ground.

"Yeah, she'd rather spend all her time hanging out with those dorks than her true friends. Gosh, and I thought she was your best friend, Hail. I'm sorry. We did all we could to include her, but she clearly doesn't want to hang out with her _real friends." _Selena put her arm around Hailey and made a shame-on-you face at me. Hailey looked down at her feet, making it obvious that she believed that Selena actually cared about her and thought of her as a friend. Just then the bus pulled up. The doors opened and I grabbed my $5 out of my bag and handed it to the driver. Carly and I sat down in the back and Goldie and Silver sat in front of us.

"So what are your big plans?" I asked Goldie. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Selena and Hailey sit down laughing about something. I made a face. This was going to be a long year.

"Um…I was thinking a pool party." Goldie replied without looking at me. Silver's eyes widened.

"Oh. But I don't have my swimsuit. That's too bad. I'd love to go swimming. It's sooo hot out. Do you guys want to go bowling instead?" Carly said flatly. I looked around at all of them. They were all pale and their eyes were big and alarmed.

"You know what? I think that we should… Go bowling today. We can have the pool party at my house tomorrow since there's no school. We'll invite the whole grade!" I said in a fake cheerful voice.

"You have a pool?" Silver asked curiously.

"Yeah. In my backyard."

"Awesome! So do we!" Goldie exclaimed.

"Cannot wait for the party! But is there enough room for the whole grade?" Carly asked. The expressions of fear were now gone from their faces and it had been replaced with excitement. I was excited too.

"Not really but half of them will probably refuse."

We did try to go bowling, but we didn't have enough money since it cost $48 and I had $2, Silver had $18.25, Goldie had $10, and Carly had $8.

When I arrived back at my house none of my sisters were home. Marcy was at a friend's house studying (yeah, right), Mel was doing something with Diana, and Madison was at a play-date. Our dog, Poseidon was asleep. I explained to my mom about the pool party, and believe it or not, she was actually excited! Probably more excited than me! And it was my pool party! I went upstairs and finished my pile of homework. Then I sent out an email to everyone in the grade that I knew, only leaving out twenty-something.

To: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

From:

Subject: POOL PARTY!

Hi every1! Come to my pool party tomorrow 1p.m.! No need to reply! THANX! MAX

I shut down my computer and opened my closet. I searched it for a proper swimsuit. I ended up finding all of my old Halloween costumes. There was a pumpkin, a Barbie, a cheerleader, a tiger, a little mermaid, a witch, a devil, a hobo, a gothic school girl, a tiger, a unicorn (I was the head and Hailey was the backside), and my most recent one, a vampire. I finally chose my red v-neck swimsuit that needs to be tied at the back. I fell back on my bed and wondered why Silver, Goldie, and Carly had acted so weird on the bus when Goldie had mentioned a pool party. Just then Marcy came into my room and announced it was time for dinner. I guess I would find out tomorrow.

The next morning when I woke up it was 10:00 A.M. I jumped out of bed and grabbed my black jean shorts and my blue polo shirt out of my closet. I pulled my swimsuit on and then I pulled my clothes on over it. I ran downstairs and quickly ate some cereal. Just then my doorbell rang. I flung open the door. Silver, Goldie, and Carly stood at the door.

"You guys are so early!" I said.

"Sorry. My mom had to go to work today, and she dropped all three of us off on the way." Carly explained. I felt a pang of jealously at how close the three of them were. Hailey, Camille, and me used to be like the three of them. Then Camille moved to Kentucky, Hailey got into makeup and clothes, and I stayed the same.

"Oh cool. Come in." I led them up to my room and we all sat on my bed.

"You guys brought your swimsuits and towels, right?" I asked looking around at the three of them. None of them carried towels or goggles.

"Oh! In our rush we totally forgot! I'm so sorry!" Silver said. She looked a little scared, like I was going to beat her up or something.

"That's okay. You can borrow mine. I probably have a couple extras." I opened my closet and they followed me. When they saw my little mermaid costume their faces became white. I pretended not to notice and threw Goldie a yellow swimsuit that could be tied at the bad.

"I don't know if I'll fit in this…" She said anxiously.

"You should. Let me know if it's too small and we'll see if one of my older sister's swimsuits work." I replied as I looked at her long thin legs. She went into my bathroom. I handed Silver a purple swimsuit with sparkly silver stars. She had the same body as Goldie, so if Goldie fit into my swimsuit she could too. She left to change in the guest bathroom. I flung a dark blue v -neck swimsuit with pink stripes at Carly and directed her to my mom's bathroom. Goldie came back wearing my yellow swimsuit and looking gorgeous. "Wow! You look great." I said.

"Thanks," she slipped her black skirt and her red v-neck t-shirt on over her swimsuit. Then Silver came out looking as perfect as Goldie in my swimsuit. She pulled her navy blue square neck tank top and her khaki skirt on over my swimsuit. Finally, Carly came out. She looked good, but not as good as the twins. She quickly slid into her pink half sleeve shirt and black knee length shorts.

"Cool. So do you guys want to check out my pool?" I asked. I had a feeling they all shared a secret that I didn't know about.

"Sure." Silver answered. I led them all down the stairs and out the back door. Outside, our huge pool took up most of the backyard. The pool was surrounded by tile and around the tile was a fence. The pool was built into the ground, so you could just walk right in if you wanted. When we were younger and Mel and Marcy were fun we used to do that.

All of a sudden, our dog Poseidon charged outside and ran towards the pool, headed right towards Goldie. Unfortunately, at the time none of us noticed that he would push Goldie into the pool with him. Poseidon broke into a run and roughly shoved poor Goldie into the pool, jumping in after her. I started giggling, but the rest of them found nothing funny about the situation. They all looked completely terrified. Goldie relaxed and looked at ease the second she touched water. Then, her face became as terrified as Carly and Silver's. She started screaming bloody murder until I reached down and pulled her out of the water. She took one look at my surprised face and forced herself to slowly smile a very unconvincing smile.

"Sorry. I can't swim. None of us can. Water freaks us all out." Goldie explained quietly. Again I felt a pang of jealousy. So this had been their little secret. I had thought I was close enough to them that they would tell me about something like this, like true friends would. Apparently not.

"Oh. That's cool. You could have just told me." I replied coolly. But from the way I said it, anyone who heard me would know it was definitely NOT cool. Silver and Carly were already at Goldie's side.

"Are you okay?" Carly asked anxiously. Silver snorted.

"Honestly, Silver, you worry too much. Duh, Goldie is okay. And Max, maybe you ought to keep that dog locked up for the pool party or something. I don't think she's in control. No offense." She snapped.

"He. And I will keep him locked up. He was just trying to have some fun. His name is Poseidon because he likes water and fun. Now maybe you guys should take Goldie to my room and find her some clothes to change into. And can you put my swimsuits into the washing machine? It's the little door next to the kitchen. I'll just wait for my friends." I said stiffly.

"Um…Sure. But can we keep the swimsuits? Just for now. So that no one suspects, you know." Goldie winked, trying to lighten the mood. Just then the bell rang, saving me from having to answer. I sprinted towards the door and flung it open. Hailey and Selena stood in front of me, looking gorgeous. They were both wearing sundresses. Hailey's was an extremely light shade of blue and Selena's was a light lavender.

"Hey guys! What's up? How was the mall?" I asked enthusiastically.

Hailey's face lit up. "Great! You should have totally come! We got these dresses. We got one for you too! Come on!" She grabbed my arm and dragged me up the stairs and into my room. She pulled a yellow dress identical to theirs out of her bag. "Here! Try it on already!" I took the dress from her, slipped my clothes off, and slid the dress over my head. Then Selena came up into my room. "There are freaks standing around your pool." She said.

"I know." I replied.

"Why were you hanging out with them?" Selena asked.

"They wouldn't take no for an answer." I lied. Hailey shrugged.

"C'mon. Let's go put our stuff down before everyone else arrives." Hailey ran down the stairs two steps at a time. Selena hung back to glare at me and then she gingerly walked down the stairs in her platforms. I ran downstairs and out the door. At the pool Carly, Silver, and Goldie were laughing about something, Hailey was putting her bag and towel down, and Selena was approaching Hailey with her lavender and indigo bag slung over her shoulder I grabbed my own bag full off sunscreen, my goggles, my towel, my sunglasses, a magazine, my favorite flip flops, and a water bottle, and walked over to the other side of Hailey. I laid my towel down next to hers and sat down. Just as I was starting to get comfortable the bell rang three times. I jumped up and ran inside and threw open the door. Kylie, Claire, Genie, Sadie, Marissa, Vallerie, and Gloria stood at the door. Kylie, Claire, Genie, and Sadie all wore identical sundresses to mine. Kylie's was light pink, Claire's was light purple, Genie's was light green, and Sadie's was white. "Follow me," I muttered. I led them inside and then out the back door. Kylie, Claire, Genie, and Sadie and put their towels by Selena's. The other three placed theirs on the other end. Carly, Silver, and Goldie were deep in conversation and Hailey and Selena were painting their nails. I sat down beside Hailey and glanced at her wet sparkly blue nails. "Max! Do you want me to paint your nails sparkly yellow?" She asked.

"Sure." I replied flatly. While Hailey painted and filed my ragged nails I checked my email on my phone. I had a new one from Camille.

To:

From:

Subject: Wt's up?

**Minniemouse May 17 8:46 P.M.**

Hi Camille. How's Kentucky? Life here sucks. When I got on the bus Hailey was sitting with Selena! Apparently they were on the same swim team while I was away at camp last summer, and now they're BFFL. I hope you're having fun. Miss you tons. I can't wait to c u again camp this summer. This is turning out 2 b a very long year, but it's almost over. Max

**Sugar Rush** **May 21 6:38 P.M.**

Hi M&M! Gosh, you sound really down. If it makes u feel any better, life in Kentucky sucks too. Everyone is already friends, and no one wants ME 2 join their clique. SELENA? Wow! Hailey hasn't emailed me in forever. Poor u! She's crossed over 2 the dark side. I am a complete loner at school now. There is this one girl, Bianca, who is a possible friend. But she's already got 3 BFFL. How come she gets 3 and I get none? Life is so unfair. Anyway, I might visit in a week or something. We get out of school a few days earlier than u guys. I'll stay over 4 a while and then we can go 2 camp 2gether. I can't believe my mom made me transfer schools at the end of the year! At least I get out of school early, and I don't deserve it! Miss u a lot! ~Cami~

**MinnieMouse** **May 24 7:02 P.M.**

Hi Sugar! 1 more week! I can do this! I'm losing Hailey though. I made friends with Carly, Goldie and Silver. I no Goldie and Silver, but I just met Carly. They're all cool. The kids you're school sound like jerks. If they don't want 2 get 2 no u, their loss! U rock! Max

**Sugar Rush May 25 8:57 A.M.**

Hi M&M! I'm SO EXCITED! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! LOVE U!  
~CAMI~

Right after I finished reading Camille's latest email the doorbell rang again. Then someone knocked. _Knock knock-knock knock-knock knock knock-knock. _It was Camille and my special knock. Just then I remembered Camille's words. "_Anyway, I might visit in a week or something. We get out of school a few weeks earlier than you guys…" _I sprinted towards the door and flung it open. Outside Camille was standing with her mom. I threw my arms around her and she laughed. "CAMI! HI! OH MY GOSH!" I screamed. She clamped her hand over my mouth. "_Shh!_ Do you want the whole neighborhood checking on us?"  
"Sorry," I said as I released her. She smiled.

" 'S okay. I missed you too. Now can we continue our reunion at the pool?"

"Yeah. Of course." She kept her suitcases in the hall and followed me out the back door.

"Gosh, Max, we were about to check on you. You were screaming bloody murder!" Goldie exclaimed.

"Not as loud as you were when-"

"CAMILLE!" Hailey interrupted me. She threw her arms around her. Camille pulled me into the hug and we all hopped up and down like little kids. Marcy came outside with wet hair and rolled her eyes. When Marcy went back inside Camille stripped off her red shirt and black skirt revealing a turquoise one piece and dived into the pool. "C'mon M&M!" I laughed and pulled my dress off and dived in after her. Everyone was staring at us. Camille swam over to Goldie, Silver, and Carly who looked terrified again. All of a sudden I felt my legs tingle. I looked under water, but nothing was biting or attacking me. I jumped out of the water and wrapped my towel around me. "What happened?" Camille asked. Then she leaped out of the pool too.

"What happened?" Selena repeated. Camille was busy talking to Carly, Goldie, and Silver, so I explained about the tingly feeling in my legs. She snorted and told me to get a grip. Typical Selena.

2 hours later, everyone had arrived. All the girls were talking, walking, and sitting around my pool, and the boys were swimming. None of them had the tingly feeling in their legs that Camille and I had experienced. We were sitting in a corner behind a tree. I leaned against the fence and sighed. "What's wrong? Everyone likes your party." Camille said as she did something on her cell phone. I shrugged.

"Well, I was embarrassed at the beginning of _my_ party, I'm mad at 3 of my friends, and my best friend isn't paying any attention to me." I replied. I took out my own cell phone and peeked over Camille's shoulder.

**Well I mean, we can't do EVERYTHING together, u no. She just acts so…ugh sometimes. Right? U must feel it 2. I think she likes u more than me. She just doesn't care any more. We used 2 b so close! Now SELENA and I are closer! I mean, we've both changed. But we can't be friends 4ever, right? -3HAILEY3 **

Was written on her screen. I instantly knew they were talking about me. I didn't say anything to Camille because she was frantically texting away, and she didn't notice me or reply to my reply to her reply. I glanced at Hailey who had taken her dress off and was sitting with her legs dangling into the pool surrounded by boys and girls. Her cell phone was in one hand and a water bottle was in the other. I wrote Camille a text message.

Wt r u doing? Max

I watched as Camille read over her text message.

Seriously, I don't think u 2 do ANYTHING together any more. She's, like, my BF. I really don't think she's…Ugh. You know? U really shouldn't trash talk your "Best Friend" behind her back. CANDYCORN  
INCOMING MESSAGE: Wt r u doing? Max Appeared on her screen. I almost smiled when I read Camille's message, but I didn't say anything to her. She sent her message to Hailey. I watched Hailey read the message and start texting her back. I stood up and went over to stand near Goldie who was talking to 5 other girls.

M&M, u seem suspicious. Wt r U doing? I'm just texting friends. AKA Hails. LULASIANGJFYI (Love u like a sis I am not gay 4 your information) ~CAMI~

Goldie saw me and smiled.

"Hi Max. Great party." She said. She was acting like nothing had happened between us before. Well, I guess nothing really had. I'd been overreacting. But I noticed that Goldie, Silver, and Carly were avoiding each other, which was very unusual because ever since the 3 of them moved here 2 months ago they had been inseparable. Carly was talking to Paige, Lana, Geri, Madeline, and Gwen, which was really weird. Hailey, Camille, and I used to be part of their group until 6th grade when they started acting like they were allergic to us. The 7 of them were laughing a lot, and I wondered what they were talking about. Goldie was hanging out with Jason, Howard, Melanie, Rhonda, and me (of course). Jason, Howard, Melanie, and Rhonda were obsessed with swimming. They were all champs. They'd been swimming since they learned to walk. Once I'd joined their swim team in 5th grade, but I quit a week later. It had been way too hard. Since all they talked about was swimming, and Goldie hated swimming, what was she doing talking to them? Silver was sitting on her towel with a bunch of other towels spread out around her. On those towels were Janet, Alyssa, Ellie, Rose, Kyla, Diana, Hannah, Jasmine, and Samantha. Janet, Alyssa, Ellie, Rose, Kyla, Diana, Hannah, Jasmine, and Samantha had an art club. They called themselves J&J, which stood for Janet and Jasmine. They were the most talented of the bunch, and they had started the club. When I was 12, my mom got to know Jasmine's mom and she convinced Camille, Hailey, and me to join. I kind of hated her for that because J&J painted, sketched, sculpted, carved, and worst of all, they were makeup artists too. J&J caused Hailey to change, and everyone involved knew it. After a few days, Camille and I found out that we were not artists, so we quit. But Hailey could work wonders with her hands. She refused to quit and became more and more skilled. And 3 years later, she's still a member! This was starting to freak me out. All three of my new friends were talking to my old friends. Why?

"Max? Hello? Are you there?" A familiar voice asked. I looked up to see Camille waving a hand in front of my face.

"Oh. Sorry. What?" I asked.

"What are you doing? Really, you were just standing there for, like, 10 minutes!" She exclaimed.

"Oh. Sorry. I would suggest diving into the water but I would rather not have to deal with that funny feeling in my legs and feet again." I said.

"Totally," She agreed. "Is there something wrong with our feet?"

"They LOOK perfectly fine to me. Do they smell?" I asked. I shook my flip-flop off and wiggled a foot in her face.

"Not really. They smell like peaches. They LOOK funny though. They're way too tiny."

"Peaches don't have a smell, moron. And I'm a size 4, F.Y.I."

"Oooh. That's huge! A 15 year old who wears a size 4 shoe? WOW! How do you find shoes in your size? Peaches DO smell. Face the facts, moron."

"Hey, if you don't shut up I'm going to push you into the water." I said grinning. A long thin bare foot with sparkly blue toenails appeared beside me. I looked up and saw Hailey standing next to me. She was wearing her red bikini with no shoes. She sat down beside me and placed her feet in the water.

"You know, if you keep doing that they'll get all pruney." Camille informed her.

"And then they'll turn black and fall off." I added.

"No, that's when your blood circulation gets cut off, retard." Camille replied. Hailey didn't laugh like she used to when she heard our pathetic arguments. She wiggled her toes in the water and ended up kicking a boy who was floating on his back. "Ouch," He muttered. Hailey just laughed. 1 year ago she would have apologized and got him an ice pack or something. God, she had changed a lot. Just then Camille's cell phone rang.

"Hello? Oh hey Bianca! No, no it's fine. Oh. Sorry, but I'm in California right now. Really? That's so cool! I'm staying with a friend so I can't…Sorry. OK. Yeah! That'd be awesome! Ok. Bye." Camille shut her phone, her eyes twinkling.

"What she want?" I asked.

"She called to ask if I wanted to visit her farm. I said no, because I'm here and all that. Then she said she's coming to California to visit her aunt and that we could get together sometime. Cool, right?"

"Um…yeah." I said flatly.

"We could go to sea world or something!" Camille exclaimed. Lucky for me, kids started leaving around then so I had to stand by the door and say goodbye. Camille was with me the whole time. Finally, only Camille, Hailey, Sabrina, and me were left.

"Do you want to sleep over, Hailey?" I asked, ignoring Selena.

"Sorry, I can't. I'm sleeping over at Selena's house." She said, not sounding the least bit sorry.

"Ok, bye." Camille replied. She practically pushed them both out the door and slammed it in their faces.

"CAMILLE!" I exclaimed.

"What?" She asked.

"Never mind." I said, rolling my eyes. We both showered and cleaned up the pool. Camille collapsed in a pool chair. I flopped down into her lap.

"EEEK! Get off of me!" She shrieked. I laughed and stood up.

"Do you want to climb over the fence and jump on the Jefferson's trampoline? They're so old that nobody in their house ever looks outside the window except the cat." I said. She opened her mouth (to agree, I'm sure), but then my mom yelled, "CAMILLE! MAX! MARCY! MEL! MADISON! POSEIDON!" We all raced into the dinning room. Poseidon was being squeezed to death in Madison's arms. "I ordered pizza since Camille is here." My mom said. Camille, Madison, and me cheered loudly. Poseidon barked in unison. A smile spread across my mom's face. It was good to have Camille back.

The weekend passed quickly, and before I knew it, Monday had arrived. My alarm clock went off in my ear. I slapped it and it went flying off my bedside table. I groaned and sat up. "GIRLS! GET DRESSED!" My mom yelled. I stood up and walked over to my closet. I searched for my school uniform. I found the plain white polo shirt, but I couldn't find my pleated navy blue skirt or my knee high white socks. Finally, I found my skirt behind my red velvet dress and my socks were under my pink leggings (Weird, I know. They were Mel's). Then I brushed my brown hair and quickly tied it up with my navy blue ribbon. I ran downstairs and pulled on my shoes. Camille was downstairs in black shorts and a blue t-shirt that had DA BOMB written across it in big, black sparkly letters. "1 more week." She reminded me when she saw my face. I rolled my eyes and grabbed my bag.

"Don't you want to eat?" My mom asked.

"No time." I yelled. I was already out the door. The bus pulled up in front of our house. The doors opened and I jumped inside. I looked around. Hailey was sitting beside Selena again. I looked around some more. Carly was sitting with her bag beside her. I walked up to her. She moved her bag and I sat down next to her. Camille had run outside and she was waving. Her black hair kept slapping her so I couldn't see her face, but I was pretty sure she was smiling.

When I was walking back from school (I had missed the bus) I got a text from Camille.

YO! CAMI IN DA HOUSE YA'LL! When r u going 2 b home? U R TAKING 4EVER! Guess what? I checked ur email on ur laptop (u don't mind, right?) and u got a ton of emails from our BFFL from camp! I got a ton 2. We will check them when u arrive. SAVE ME! ~CAMI~

CAMI! Shawty, take a chill pill. I'm almost there. I missed the bus so I had 2 walk. I mind that u checked my email. How did u get my pass? Max

God, it was easy. Password123. Same as mine. ~CAMI~

U just told me UR pass u retard. Max

Just then I reached the door. I knocked and it flew open. Camille stood in front of me, looking really excited. "C'MON!" She said. When we got to my room I changed and she got out my laptop and logged onto my email account. My inbox looked like this:

**Grace** Subj.-really cool book I read! **2:15**

**Anna** Subj.-can't w8 2 c u! **6:09**

**Maya** Subj.-CAMP! **2:08**

You get it. Grace and Maya were still on, so I started a chat.

Me: Hey guys!

**Maya: HEY M&M**

_Grace: OMG hi Maya! Hi Max!_

Me: So what's up?

_Grace: I'm using my stepmom's computer! Hope she doesn't mind._

**Maya: Ok…Just got back from school. What about u?**

Me: Ditto.

_Grace: Anyway, I read this great book…_

I looked up and Camille was gone. A second later her name popped up on the screen.

Cami: Mind if I join?

**Maya: HEY CAMI! What's up?**

Cami: I'm Max's house using her home computer. She's on her laptop.

Me: Yeah.

_Grace: That's so cool! Y didn't u invite us? LOL._

Me: LOL

**Maya: ROFL**

Cami: ha

_Grace: Back to my book. It was soooo good! It was called…Well I forgot the name, but it was good._

Me: Gr8. When did u read it?

_Grace: Uh…A week ago? Maybe? _

**Maya: Oh, god. Have u seen a doctor about this? U may have short-term memory or something…**

Cami: Or something.

**Maya: GTG. C u guys in a week! LULS!**

Maya is offline.

_Grace: Aw. Anyway, it was a mystery. The girl's friends were all acting really weird. It turns out they were zombies!_

Cami: Grace, that's not really good. That's…well, it's disgusting for one thing.

Me: Uh… I really don't want to hear the rest.

_Grace: Oh c'mon!_

Me: No, really. It's fine.

Cami: Let me guess. She gets eaten?

_Grace: No! R u crazy? Zombies do NOT eat people. Right, Max?_

Me: Uh…I don't know.

_Grace: ALERT! RED ALERT! Stepmom! GTG! TTYL! Cya in a week! BFFL! LULS!_

Grace is offline.

Me: C u in a min!

Cami: Yeah.

Camille came running in just as I was shutting my laptop down. I thought about what Grace had said about her book. Was it possible Carly, Silver, and Goldie were ZOMBIES? No way. Zombies didn't exist. "That was cool! I can't wait for camp!" Cami exclaimed. Neither could I.

1 week later, Camille and I were waiting outside my house wearing identical CAMP CALIFORNIA t-shirts. Sweat ran down my face. "God! What is TAKING so long?" Camille groaned.

"They'll be here soon." I assured her. She threw her bag down and sat on it. I stared straight ahead. Today was the first day of camp. The bus was coming to pick us up, like it did every year. I couldn't wait to get away from everything and just have fun. Just then, a bus with CAMP CALIFORNIA printed across it in bold, faded letters pulled up. Camille jumped up. We both ran towards the bus. The doors flew open and we both climbed in. "Sorry, girls. We had a few extra passengers to pick up." The bus driver said. Sitting right behind her were Silver and Goldie. I was surprised Carly wasn't with them. "Hey guys!" Silver said. "Um…Hi." I said. The seat behind them was occupied so Camille started heading towards the back. "Sit," The bus driver instructed. I raced to the back and sat down next to Camille who was talking to the girl in front of her. She had short blond hair that was almost down to her shoulders. Her eyes were brown and she had blue and pink colored braces. "Max, this is Bianca. Bianca, this is Max." Camille said. "Wow, it's nice to meet you." Bianca said smiling.

"You too." I replied.

"My aunt didn't want to deal with me so she just dumped me here. I hope this is fun." Bianca said, turning back to Camille. She was wearing a brown cami covered with pink stars and pink shorts. I glanced at her seat partner. She was paying no attention to Bianca. She had auburn hair and she was reading a book quietly. So they were both new. I leaned back and got poked in the head. "OW!" I said.

"Watch it." Someone else replied. I turned around and saw another girl leaning back in her seat with her cell phone right where my head had been. She had strawberry blond hair that was covering her face. She also had sunglasses on so I couldn't see her eyes. I turned back around and carefully rested my head against the seat. This was going to be a long ride.

Four hours later we pulled up in front of camp. The bus doors opened. I grabbed my bags and stood up. I was about to jump of the bus, but the snobby girl behind me stood up and pushed through the crowd. "Move," She commanded. I grabbed Camille's arm and pulled her through the crowd with me until we reached the bus doors. We jumped off and went up to the woman with the clipboard. "What are your names?" She asked. "Maxine Robin and Camille Harrison." Camille answered quickly.

"Okay, Camille, you're in cabin 8B and Maxine you're in cabin 8A." We looked at each other, our eyes wide.

"We're in different cabins?" Camille shrieked.

"Yes. Now please move along." The woman answered calmly.

"It's fine. I'll see you at dinner." I said, forcing a smile.

"Okay. Yeah. See you." Camille said. We both walked up the steep hill where cabins 8A and 8B were. Cabins 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B were for girls 6-9. Cabins 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B, 6A, and 6B were for girls 10-13. Cabins 7A, 7B, 8A, and 8B were for girls 14-15.

"Bye." I said. Camille didn't reply. I walked towards the cabin that had **8A** written on it in bold letters. Camille and I had thought that we would be in the same cabin. We had been in the same cabin since we were six. I opened 8A's door and walked inside. Silver was taping posters to the wall above her bed (she had the lower bunk) and across the room from her the snobby girl was decorating her bed (she had top bunk). When Silver saw me she smiled and waved. I walked over to her and said, "Do you want to share bunks?"

"Sure. Our CIT is helping cook dinner and our counselor is in the bathroom." She replied as she taped a SAVE THE WORLD poster up on the wall. I put my foot on her bed and pulled myself up to the top. Our camp didn't have ladders for the bunk beds because they thought they were too expensive. Last year, Camille and I had been in bunk 7B. Hailey had dropped out of camp that summer. She had said it was boring. Silver handed me my bags. I took out my blanket and my pillow and put them on the bed. Then I taped up a few posters and pictures. I jumped off the bed and found an empty cubby. I shoved all my clothes into it and walked back over to Silver. Just then the door opened. A girl with slightly curly red hair and dark brown eyes stepped inside. "GRACE!" I yelled. I ran towards her and threw my arms around her neck. She laughed and hugged me back.

"Where's Cami?" She asked.

"8B." I replied sadly.

"Aw. That sucks. Have you got a bunk buddy?" She asked as she pushed me away and looked around.

"Yeah. Sorry." I replied.

"That's okay. I can bunk with Gert or Maya or Sophia or Steph or Chelsea." Grace picked up her bags and walked over to the bunk next to mine. She climbed onto the top bunk. I handed her the bags and climbed up next to her.

1 hour later, everyone in our bunk had arrived. My friend Maya took the lower bunk of Grace's bed. Another girl that I didn't know took the bunk under the snotty girl's. I had just finished introducing my friends to Silver when a pretty girl with dirty blond hair and dark blue eyes walked out of the bathroom.

"Hi girls. I'm Kari and I'm going to be your counselor this year. Now we are going to play a get-to-know-you game. Everyone sit down in a circle. I will point to someone and they need to say their name. Then the next person will say the name of the person before them and their name, and the next person will say the names of the two people before them and their name, and so on." We all sat down in a circle. I sat in between Maya and Grace. Kari pointed to Silver and she said, "Silver."

"Silver and Grace." I gulped. It was my turn.

"Silver, Grace, and Max." I said in my calmest voice.

"Silver, Grace, Max, and Maya." Maya seemed to be enjoying the game. The next girl was the snobby girl with the sunglasses.

"Silver, Grace, Max, Maya, and Ashley." She said in a snobby voice that matched her personality. I should have guessed her name was Ashley. She looked like an Ashley. The next girl had curly hair that was so blond it was almost white, and I had a feeling she was another Ashley or Tiffany.

"Silver, Grace, Max, Maya, Ashley, and Gabby." The girl said. Gabby? Close enough. Then Kari made us all repeat all 6 names. Then she put us in two groups and explained how to make bracelets with the thread she gave us. I got stuck with Gabby and Ashley. Yippee. I sat down next to them and carefully taped my 4 strings that I had carefully knotted together to the ground. Ashley and Gabby stared at me. And then Ashley took out a bottle of lime green nail polish and started shaking it.  
"What are you doing?" I asked. She didn't reply. She began covering her long nails in the polish while I started double knotting each string. Gabby took something out of her pocket and put it on her wrist. I noticed Ashley was already wearing a thread bracelet with four different colors, just like the one I was making. Gabby was wearing one identical to Ashley's. I wondered where they had got them but I didn't ask. Kari walked over to us and frowned. "What are you doing?" She asked.

"Oh, Gab and I already finished so we're just using the extra time for some free time." Ashley replied sweetly. She looked up at Kari and her face looked so innocent that even I almost believed her.

"That's great!" Kari exclaimed. She looked down at me. "Hurry up, Max, or you won't be able to join us for dinner tonight. Anyways," She said, turning back to Ashley and Gabby, "You two should join crafts. You certainly have a way with your hands!" And she left.

Thirty minutes later I had still not finished my bracelet. I kept messing up and I had to use Grace's stitch opener (she had been stitching herself a hat on the bus) to open the small knots. Everyone had left for dinner and Maya had promised to bring me back something. I finally finished my bracelet and I quickly tied it and put it on my wrist. I stood up and stretched, wondering what I should do. I obviously couldn't go to dinner because I couldn't just walk in there even though they had probably just sat down. I looked around and spotted the magazine Gabby had been reading. I was about to pick it up when I heard something hit the window. I glanced out the window but no one was there. I opened the cabin door and walked outside. Camille was sitting below the window. I ran up to her and whispered, "Camille!" as loudly as you can whisper. She jumped up, hitting her head on the window seal in the process and turned to face me. "Hey M&M!"

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Oh, it took me forever to finish the bracelet so I had to stay behind while my cabin went to dinner. I knew that you would take a while too, so I came over to see if you wanted to hang out or something." I smiled. Her story was almost the same as mine.

"Cool. Want to go on a walk?" I asked. I knew I wasn't supposed to leave the cabin when Kari didn't know where I was, but it would be nice to have a moment alone with Camille.

"Sure." She said. We walked down the hill and turned right into the woods. We walked through all the trees until we saw the dock. The ground was covered in mud that had a little bit of sand sprinkled over it and then some twigs. We silently got up on the dock and walked to the end. I pulled my socks and shoes off and sat cross-legged on the dock. Camille pulled her sneakers off (I don't think I've ever seen her wear socks) and pulled her knees up to her chest. Neither of us dangled our feet in the water because we didn't want to have to feel the tingly sensation in our feet again.

"So. How's your cabin?" I asked dully. Her face lit up.

"It's so much fun! Bianca is bunking with me and Steph and Chelsea are right next to us. And Gert is across the cabin but she has to bunk with this stuck-up girl named Morgan. But poor Sophia is stuck in 7B. What about you?"

"Well…Silver is bunking with me and-"

"That's great!" Camille interrupted. "I hear Goldie is in 7B with Soph. They didn't get many 14 year olds this year so they stuck a bunch of the older girls in their cabins."

"Yeah," I continued. "Anyway, Grace and Maya are next to us, and these snobby girls named Gabby and Ashley are across."

"Ooh. That sucks. Bianca is so much fun! She snuck her cell phone in to camp too and we've been texting a bunch!" I had snuck my cell phone in too. Everyone had. Why did Camille keep going on about Bianca?

"Grace brought the zombie book to camp. Can you believe it? Turns out zombies DO eat people." I said.

"Ew! Really? Next Halloween you should come to Kentucky and we can be zombies." She exclaimed. I was just glad Camille wasn't talking about how great Bianca was anymore.

After 20 minutes we put our shoes and socks back on and raced back to our cabins. Camille waved and walked into her cabin. I opened the wood door to 8A and walked inside. Ashley, Gabby, Grace, Silver, Maya, and Kari were still at dinner, so it was empty. I shut the door behind me, grabbed Gabby's magazine, and climbed up onto my new lumpy bed. I had just opened it to page 1 when the door flew open. Maya and Grace ran inside first with Silver running after them. Kari came in shaking her head, and Ashley and Gabby glared at Maya, Grace, and Silver. When Gabby saw I had her magazine she screamed.

"Give me my magazine!" She yelled. Kari looked surprised. I guess she had thought Gabby and Ashley were angels. I threw it to Gabby and sighed. Grace and Maya climbed up beside me. My phone buzzed. I froze. Kari went into the bathroom (probably to reapply makeup) and everyone else (except Maya and Grace) was busy doing something else.

Incoming message: YO M&M! What's up? Gave Bi UR#. U don't mind, right? ~CAMI~

I wanted to tell her I DID mind and that she can't just go around giving people my number when my phone buzzed again.

Incoming message: Hi Max. Cami told me what u guys did when we were dinner. It's so cool! I'm going to try and b as slow as u guys (LOL) tomorrow so I can sneak out with u. It's like playing spies like 7-year-old boys. And I would know bcuz I have a brother that age. I can't believe u have 3 sisters and a dog and no neighborhood friends! That must suck! Email me sometime. Here's my email: . It's so exciting to b texting when you're not supposed to! _Bianca_ _E._

Grace laughed. "Wow. And Camille thinks she's cool?"

"Yeah. She can't stop talking about her." I replied. Grace snorted. She took out her cell and sent a text to Bianca.

Bianca E. I no who u r! . I WILL DESTROY U! U killed my father!

And she sent it. "Grace!" Maya and I scolded together. Then a text popped up on Grace's screen.

Gracie Higgins. What is UR problem? ~CAMI~

"Uh-oh," We all said together. Just then the bathroom door opened and Kari came out in an old pink tank top and little white shorts with pink stripes. The cabin door flew open and a redheaded girl stomped in. "That's our CIT. Her name is Megan." Maya whispered. I quickly turned my cell off (Maya and Grace did the same) and slid it under my mattress.

"Bedtime." Kari announced.

"What?" Maya, Grace, Silver, and me shrieked.

Gabby and Ashley ran into the bathroom and slammed the door, causing the whole cabin to shake. Megan went over to the counselor and CIT bed and flopped down on the bottom.

"Change." Kari instructed. We all looked at each other like _Can you believe this? _Maya and Grace jumped off my bed and changed into their PJs in front on Megan, Kari, and me. I followed their example, and Silver followed mine. Then we all brushed our teeth and climbed into our lumpy beds. When the light finally turned off and we could hear Kari snoring we all grabbed our cells and turned them on.

I think Cami will neva talk to me again. _**GRACE**_

_It's possible__if u apologize first.__ $MAYA$_

Um…What's up with the money signs, May? Max

_Couldn't come up with anything else. U got any ideas? Anyway, we r leaving poor silver out. What is her #? $MAYA$_

366-9724. What about Maya? Hey Grace, r u still there? Max

Yeah. W8. I think Ashley and Gabby r still awake. Did u hear something? What if Megan is awake? Then we're DOOMED! _**GRACE**_

_Gosh, calm down grace. Silver, text us if u get this. Good idea maxi. M__aya_

**Hi guys. Silver here! I just got this cell phone, and I think it's so cool! Do u think Gabby & Ashley r awake? I keep hearing these creaking sounds. I'm kind of freaked out. I WANT TO GO HOME! LOL! 143447! SilveR**

**C? I am so not hearing things. **_****GRACE****_

Maybe it's just normal? Max

_I hate 2 say it, but it's probably not. I've been going 2 this camp 4 9 years, and I've never heard sounds like this. Maybe we should wake Kari…? M__aya_

No way! She'll just say we're being silly. We have to check it out ourselves. What do u say, girls? _**GRACE**_

Um…what do I say? I say, NO WAY! We'll b caught 4 sure! Max

**Max is probably right. I mean I don't want 2 get in trouble on my 1****st**** day. SilveR **

Just then my stomach growled loudly.

_Ooh sorry. I 4got 2 bring u back some food! M__aya _

Whatever. Anyway, Silver agreed so we r NOT going out there. What do u think, Maya? Max

_W__e should check it out. I mean, what if we fall asleep and everyone gets murdered just because we were 2 scared and tired 2 check? M__aya _

**Don't be silly. It's the counselors' job. Just go to sleep. I doubt anyone will murder us. And if they do, no one can blame it on us because we'll b dead! HA! SilveR**

I was starting to like Silver more and more.

Stop being such wusses. Maya and I r going 2 go check it out while u 2 cower in UR beds. HA! We will b the heroes of the day (or night). _**GRACE**_

What if it's zombies and they eat u? Max

We'll try our best 2 not get eaten. _**GRACE**_

Fine, I'll come. Max

_Yippee! I mean, u r doing the right thing, young hero. U won't regret it. What about u, noble silver? __M__aya_

**1. Stop with the medieval weirdness. 2. U guys r being idiots. Nothing is out there! What is wrong with u people? SilveR**

Humph. Come on guys. Let's go. *_*GRACE**_

We all hopped out of bed and opened the door when all off a sudden Grace whispered, "Silver's not in bed!" We

All turned around and gasped.

"Maybe the zombies ate her," I suggested. They both looked at me and we burst out laughing. Megan sat up and shrieked.

"Girls! Get back in bed!"

"But Silver's missing!" Maya exclaimed. Megan jumped out of her bed and started shaking Kari who was sleeping on the top bunk. When Kari finally sat up Megan explained the situation. The both instructed us to get back in bed and not move until they were back. They both grabbed flashlights and ran out the door. We crawled back into bed. I pulled the blanket over my head and silently logged into . There was an email from my mom and one from my dad.

To:

From:

Subject: Camp

Hi Sweetie! I know that you don't get to check email while you're at camp, but knowing you, you probably snuck your cell phone in so that you can email and text and all that good stuff. And I know that I should be mad, but I'm glad that I have a way to contact you. So how is Camp so far? How are Maya and Grace and all the rest of the girls? Did you make any new friends? What are you choosing for activities this year? Tell me all about camp. –Mom

I presses reply with my thumb and started emailing her back.

:

Dear mom,

Camp is great. Maya and Grace r in my cabin, but I don't know about the rest because I took a long time working on a project so I missed dinner and campfire. Camille is in the cabin next to mine. She has this girl that goes to her school in her cabin so they r good friends. She seems okay. Her name is Bianca. I don't know what activities I will do. Maybe arts and crafts, sports, drama, etc. Anyway, enough about me. How is everyone?

Max

I pressed the SEND button and went back to my inbox. There was an email from my Dad and 1 from Hailey. Naturally, I clicked on the one from Hailey.

From:

To:

Subject: Greetings from the city

_Hey Max! How's camp? Seriously, I wish u didn't go so that you could do ACTING SCHOOL with me. We get 2 learn about makeup and acting and all the technology. Selena keeps making these lame jokes about u, so I kind of stopped talking 2 her, and now I HAVE NO ONE 2 TALK 2! Anyway, tell me about camp, k? Or gimme a call! U no my #. Or text me. But not in the middle of the night or 6am-6pm cuz I hav acting. Get in touch! LUV YA!  
3 Hailey3 _

I smiled a little bit and pressed reply.

:

Hi Hail! R u still doing J&J? Isn't someone from J&J doing that ACTING SCHOOL too? Or, u COULD just come 2 camp. We're having a blast. We do all that stuff in drama. Think about UR choices. Max

I checked the rest of my emails and logged off. All of a sudden my phone buzzed.

Nice try, Maxi. I am SO not going to spend the rest of my summer in that bug-infested camp. So think again. There R no "options". 3 Hailey3

:o Yeah there r. _I _wouldn't waste _MY_ time in a snob-infested camp if I had a choice. :o Max :o

Whatever. U wouldn't understand, because UR not mature enough. Even Camille understands. I've changed my mind. Selena was right. HAILEY

Ur counselor and CIT just ran into our room and asked if anyone from our cabin was missing and if we had seen Silver. What'd u tell them? ~CAMI~

Hailey thought I wasn't mature? That could wait. Silver was the most important thing for now.

Silver is missing.

Ha! Good 1! Where's she hiding? Under the bed? I can't believe they fell for that!

No! Seriously! SILVER IS MISSING!

Really? Wow. They'll find her. Don't worry,

What time is it?

10:33. How long has Silver been missing?

I don't know, detective. We were all texting and she was texting us back. Then, when we got out of bed, we saw that Silver wasn't there. Kari and Megan left maybe at 10?

Interesting. Hmm…

Hi guys! I saw that Cami was texting so thought I'd join…Whatcha talking about? _Bianca E._

We were discussing where Silver could be. Any ideas? Oh, and what does the E in UR name stand 4?

Uh… No. Who's Silver? E stands 4 Elaine. Haven't u heard some people call me Bianca Ellen? That's what my full first name is. Bianca Elaine. But it's Bianca Ellen since Elaine is soo old.

Guys. Silver? We need 2 find her!

WHO THE HECK IS SILVER?

1 of our (mostly max) friends.

OHHH. What does she look like?

Auburn hair, gray eyes, tall, skinny, freckles.

Wish I looked like that.

U look fine.

I'm running out of patience! Any minute now steam is going 2 start coming out of my ears.

Ok, Ok. Sheesh. Pushy, pushy. Camy, UR friend is so impatient.

U spelled Cami wrong.

No, I didn't.

Uh, yeah, u did.

Not.

Did.

Not.

Did.

NOT!

DID!

NOT!

Not.

Did or did not?

Did.

Duh. SHE'S smart.

Unlike SOME people I know of…

Guys! Stop it! Silver?

Just when I was about to suggest that we all sneak out and go look for her, the door flew open. "We can't find her! We looked everywhere!" Megan panted.

"Don't worry. We'll find her eventually." Kari said a bit too loudly.

"What? Is it time to get up?" Ashley mumbled groggily.

"No. Go back to sleep." Grace said nervously. I hadn't noticed she was still awake. Ashley sat up and stretched. "What's happening?" She asked curiously. I had a feeling she had been awake the whole time.

"Silver's missing." Megan said.

"No she's not," Kari replied quickly.

"Uh, yeah, she is." Maya boldly remarked.

"Well, temporarily. I bet she'll show up in the morning." Kari agreed.

"You mean you hope." I added.

"Forget it, girls. Just go back to sleep." She said, sounding extremely frustrated. I pulled the covers back over my head and closed my eyes. I was so exhausted that I forgot all my worries and fell into a deep sleep.

"URG! Gabby, did you use up my lip gloss?" I sat up and saw Ashley yelling at Gabby who was still trying to sit up. I jumped out of bed and gasped. Silver was asleep in her bed. I ran over to Grace and shook her awake. Then she helped me wake Maya. We all ran over to my bunk to stare at Silver and make sure we weren't dreaming. Maya hesitantly leaned over and touched Silver's arm. Silver sat up. I noticed that her pillow looked wet, but I waited until no one was looking to touch it. I stroked the pillow. Yep, it was wet. Where had Silver been last night? Silver groaned.

"What time is it?" She asked.

"Where were you last night?"

"Kari and Megan spent half the night looking for you!"

"Seriously, we were so worried!" We all started talking at once. Gabby and Ashley couldn't have cared less. "I was…sw-" Silver stopped mid-sentence. I knew she was about to say swimming, and that would make sense if she hadn't told me that she was afraid of water. "I was out by the lake. It was too early to go to sleep, so I snuck out." She corrected quickly.

"Why didn't you tell us when we were texting?" I asked suspiciously. Grace and Maya seemed satisfied with her answer, but I wasn't. It just didn't add up. Silver was lying. I was going to find out why, no matter what it took.

1 hour later I was beginning to think I might not have time to find out what was up with Silver. I had so many activities! We had spent all of breakfast deciding on and receiving our schedules. Mine was

1. Breakfast 6-6:30 A.M.

2. Drama 6:35-7:35 A.M.

3. Sports 7:40-8:40 A.M

4. Arts and Crafts 8:45-9:45 A.M.

5. Photography 9:50-10:50 A.M.

5. Lunch 11:00A.M. - 12:00P.M.

6. Newspaper 12:10-1:10 P.M.

7. Swimming 1:20-2:30 P.M.

8. Free period 2:40-3:40 P.M.

9. Chores 3:50-4:50 P.M.

10. Biking 4:50-5:50 P.M.

11. Dinner 6-7 P.M.

12. Campfire 7-8 P.M.

13. Bedtime 8:30 P.M.-5:30 A.M.

After breakfast, I put my schedule in my pocket and ran off towards the old cabin that they had drama in. When I got inside, none of my friends were there. I spotted an empty chair next to a girl with really light brown hair and glasses. I sat down next to her. She smiled at me. "I'm Sarah." She said.

"I'm Max." I replied. She smiled and opened her mouth, but just then a woman with sandy brown hair got up in front of the room and yelled, "QUIET!" We all became silent and she smiled. "Hello class. I'm Gigi and I will be your drama instructor for this year." A tall, skinny girl with red hair and hazel eyes ran up onto the "stage", which was made of some sturdy tables with some stairs next to them to climb up. "Mom, there's a-"

"Shh, Emma Grace. I'm talking." Gigi hissed. Then she turned to us and smiled. "This is my daughter, Emma Grace. Emma Grace, please take a seat."  
"Yeah, but mom, seriously, there is a gir-"

"I said, HAVE A SEAT!" Gigi said through gritted teeth. Emma Grace glumly hopped off the stage and sat down next to me. Sarah leaned over me and whispered, "What were you-"

"No talking!" Gigi said, a permanent smile plastered on her face. This woman was staring to scare me. Then, she put us in groups and told us to write short plays that we could perform for the class. Emma Grace, Sarah, and I all sat on the floor in a circle. Sarah took out a green notebook and a purple pen. "Okay, what do you want to call it?" She asked.

"Well, first we have to write the play." Emma Grace replied.

"We could make it a mystery." I suggested. I kept thinking about Silver.

"Or maybe something like Macbeth!" Emma Grace said brightly.

"Uh…NO. We are NOT writing Shakespeare. What about a play about…Mermaids?" Sarah suggested.

"Are you crazy? What are we, six?" Emma Grace scoffed.

"What about zombies?" I asked.

"Oh yeah! We could do something like Shaun of the Dead!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Dead of the what?" Emma Grace asked.

"Oh, it's a British movie about zombies. It's rated R." She explained

"I can only watch PG-13." Emma Grace said sadly.

"But your 15." I pointed out.

"Yeah, two more years. My parents are really strict about that kind of stuff." Gigi stopped and glanced at Sarah's notebook.

"Get to work, girls. This isn't free period." She left and Sarah said,

"So what if there's a little girl…who gets eaten by a zombie?"

"I'm not going to be the poor little girl." I said.

"What about a poor little girl running from zombies and at the end she gets eaten?" Emma Grace said. This was going to be a long hour.

Chapter 6

I glanced at my watch. 1:15 P.M. I grabbed the yellow swimsuit that I had lent Goldie and put it on. Then, I picked up the neatly folded green, pink, and white striped towel. It was really worn out from Mel and Marcy. I raced out of the cabin and through the woods until I reached the dock that Camille and I had sat on last night. When I got there, there were already a bunch of girls swimming in the lake. I walked over to them and hesitantly dipped my toe into the water. I immediately felt the tingly sensation. I pulled my toe back out of the water. I wanted to swim so much! But I couldn't. The counselor that was in charge of swimming came up to me. "Get in the water." She instructed.

"But-"

"GET IN THE WATER!" I anxiously ripped my towel off and jumped into the lake. It felt good until the tingly feeling increased. I heard a blood-curling scream, and everyone ran out of the water. I realized the scream was mine, and I started freaking out. I couldn't get out of the water. It felt like something was pulling me down, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get out. Whatever was pulling me down was strong. Just then, I heard a familiar voice.

"What's up?" The thing that was pulling me stopped and I jumped out of the water. Goldie stared at me and I noticed how concerned and scared she looked.

"Nothing." I said. "Nothing at all."

"Right." The counselor in charge of swimming didn't make me swim again. No one else got back in the pool. She let us go early. I walked over to the "camp office" a.k.a. a small cabin they used as an office. I opened the door and walked inside.

"Any mail for me?" I asked Mrs. Robinson. She was in charge of the small office.

"Here," She handed me a very thick envelope. I walked back to my cabin and wondered what was happening to me. Why did my legs keep going crazy whenever I tried to swim? I opened the door. No one was inside, so I changed back into my shorts and t-shirt and flopped down on my bed. I tore the envelope open. I tugged the contents out. The first one was a letter from Marcy.

Hey little sissy! I'm not at home either (thank god). Hannah invited me over for the summer and I said yeah. Of course. So we're swimming and sunbathing every day! Her beach house is awesome! How is camp? I would email you but they don't have a computer or Wi-Fi. It sucks. But it's still really fun. Haven't seen Mel or Madi or Mom so if they write tell me what they say (imperative sentence)! Anyway gotta go. We are going to surf now! Yes, I can surf now. :D

Love,

Marcy

I smiled and opened the next letter. A letter fell out.

**Dear maxi,**

**We all miss you! Madison says hi. (thank god she can't really read) but Marcy is in California and Mel is always with her friends. How is camp? Are you having a good time? How are all of your friends? We signed Madison up for swim team so now she can swim better than me! I quote "Mommy, tell Maxi I say hi! She's lots more fun then Mel. She need to come back." Sadly I agree. I think Melanie wrote a letter too, so you should get them around the same time. Marcy isn't writing. Tell us what she wrote to you. Love you!**

**LOVE,**

**Mom and Madison **

Then there was a letter from Mel. Everyone had sent letters! I would send them some back so that I didn't feel guilty.

**Max,**

**Everyone wanted to write to you 'cause they think it's so cool that I have a "cute" little sister so this is from all of us. And it's typed on Angelica's laptop (we are taking turns typing). So how is camp? I can't believe you went there! Isn't it so dirty? Well, reply. –Mel**

**Hey Mel's little sister! This is Taylor! She said your name is Max…Cool name! Wish I had a little sister. Do you want to be mine too? What camp are you at? What's it like? Tell me about yourself! Kyla won't let me write anymore. REPLY ASAP! –TayTay **

**HEY GF! I'm Mel's new #1!Diana is out because she's just so mean!Like TayTay mentioned I'm Kyla. A lot of people call me Kyle, so you can too if you want to. I'm pretty with wavy blond hair (hee hee).Everyone thinks blonds are like, always popular and dumb, but we are so not! Well, some are. Now Val wants it. Tell me about you. BYE! –Kyla-**

**Max: I'm Val. The ugliest of the bunch. And the sportiest and least fashionable. I'm just friends w/them because I cheerlead and play volleyball. So Mel mentioned you're pretty tomboy-ish too so I thought we might get along… Send us pictures! I want to see what gorgeous Mel's little sister looks like. Handing it over to Angelica. Write later alligator! ******VAL****

**Hi Maxi. I'm the most shy but not on computer or paper. Only in person. Just so you get to know me, here is the list of who I think is prettiest:**

**Mel **

**Kyle**

**ME**

**Taylor**

**Poor Val **

**I am like Val except prettier, LOL. Joking. So, anyway, write back…OR ELSE! Love you! Ana**

Finally I pulled the last folded paper out of the envelope. Mom had let Hailey send her letter with theirs.

Hi Maxi! Isn't this picture beautiful? Selena took it when we were putting makeup on. Acting is so fun! Seriously, it's much more fun than camp. Got to go. Selena is sleeping over and we are painting our nails. Bye! HAILEY

I sighed and began writing back to Marcy.

Hey Marcy! Mel, Madison, Mom, and Hailey wrote. They are all fine. Madison is doing swim team and Mel is shopping, as usual. Hailey is doing some acting thing and mom is working. Camp is fun. Remember some of the girls I had over for the pool party? Some of them decided to come to camp too. I have such a tiring schedule! I was just at swimming and when I got in the water

Just then the door flew open. Grace ran inside. "Hey! What are you doing?''

"Um…Nothing. Just answering mail." I replied.

"Well what happened in swimming? I heard about it." She said as she grabbed Hailey's short letter. She then grabbed my cell phone and said, "Silver is texting you."

**Hey Max! What's up? So everyone is talking about swimming. What happened? They said u were screaming…Thought u liked water? SilveR**

Yeah I do. But now I get this weird feeling in my legs whenever I go swimming.

**Do u get it whenever WATER touches u? SilveR**

No! Only water. No1 will believe me anyway so y am I telling U?

She didn't reply, so I wondered if I had hurt her feelings. But it was beginning to seem a little weird how whenever I was about to tell somebody about what happened when I went swimming, somebody appeared and stopped me. The door opened again and Silver walked in, looking pale. "Why are you two out of Drama so early?" I asked.

"Kayla hurt herself. She fell off the stage. Ha." Silver replied.

"Huh. I thought it was Katie." Grace said. She was still reading all my letters.

"Whatever." Silver sat down next to me. I examined her face carefully. She wasn't wet. If Grace and Silver were in the same drama class (which they were), they would be let out at the same time. So why was Silver later than Grace? I tried to convince myself it was a silly question. She had only been about 7 minutes later.

When free period arrived, Kari let us get out of the cabin. Cami bumped into me when I jumped out the door. "Hi," She said.

"Hey." I replied. She took my arm and we started walking down the hill.

"So guess what?" She asked.

"What?" I said dully.

"Grace is in my drama class! I don't think she noticed me. She was too busy catching up with Steph." I bet my face literally lit up when she said that. This was exactly what I needed!

"Was Silver?"

"Nooo. Neither was Goldie. Bianca wasn't either."

"Aw." I pretended to look sympathetic, but inside of me fireworks were going off! This was proof that I was NOT just paranoid. There WAS something going on, and I was the only one who knew it. I listened to Camille's aimless chatter for the rest of break, and then I went back to my cabin to do a hour of chores. When I got inside, Gabby and Ashley were texting people. No one else was inside. I sat down by Gaby. She didn't notice me, or if she did, she did a really good job hiding it.

So is it true that the water is all cold? –LeeLee-

Kind of. Not really. My new friend Ashley was freakin' out this morning 'cuz she thot it wuz like super cold! GAB

Wow. Such a wuss! So how bad r all the girls camp if u made friends with a wuss like her? I thot camp wuz supposed 2 b fun! Aren't there any fun girls there? –LeeLee-

Gabby still hadn't noticed me. That was good, because I wanted to continue reading the texts, even if it was rude. I wanted to see what was going on with her. Was something going on with EVERY girl at this camp?  
Well, some r okay but there isn't really any1 who wants 2 b friends w/me…. GAB

R u kidding? U R AWESOME! So their loss! Who cares if they don't want 2 b friends w/u cuz there is sumthng wrong w/their brains? U should just go and say hi and everything will work out!-LeeLee4eternity!-

Thanx Lee, but things don't really work like that. I think you've been reading 2 many books, girl. In the real world other girls r like devils. This is going 2 b a LONG summer. GAB

Oh c'mon! U can't just give up! Do u no what GAB stands 4? Girly awesomeness, baby! Seriously. FIGHT! U can do this! ONE SUMMER! Katy is so annoying. -LeeLee-

Sorry girl but I have 2 go. Free p. is over and now I have 2 do cabin chores. HUGZ! MU! ILYLEELEE! GAB

After a long day we climbed into bed. Everyone had been looking at me strangely since swimming, so I was grateful that now everyone's eyes would be closed. I was also happy that I now got to check my email. I had a bunch of messages, but I didn't check them. Instead I logged off of email and went on Google. I looked up LeeLee. A bunch of results came up. I clicked on the one that said '. A blog came up.

May18

School is almost over. Joy? Really not that happy because all of my friends r going away. U guys should be pleased, cause I'm gonna be so bored that there's gonna b a TON of blog entries! So, anyway, my best friend Gabby is over. We all call her Gab and I call her Abs! I'm going to interview her 4 u guys.

Me: So. How do u like LeeLee's blog?

Abs: It's awesome. Hey, that's not what I said! I said it's awesome! That's still not what I said! What is wrong with u Lee?

Me: Nothing really.

Abs: HEY! THIS IS SO NOT OUR CONVERSATION!

Me: People, Abs is having a mental (and physical. I am getting slapped over here) breakdown. Please excuse her.

Abs: Oh my god. And u r putting this on the INTERNET?

Me: Yup. That's the plan.

Abs: ARGGGGGGG!

Me: I'M ALMOST DONE MOM! I'LL CLEAN MY ROOM WHEN ABS LEAVES. (Pause) I DON'T CARE ABOUT FREAKIN' MELANIE MEYER! (Another pause) Hey! Abs! What r u doing? U JUST TYPED THAT? U R POSTING THAT? U CAN'T! (Click)

I smiled. Then there were a bunch of comments like:

Nadia Brown: Going 2 miss u 2 Lee!

LeeLee Miller: Um okaaaaaaaaaaaay then.

LeeLee had just posted that comment a few minutes ago. So I quickly posted a comment.

Max Robinson: Hey LeeLee. I go 2 the same camp as Gabby. Love the blog! It reminds me of my friends back home!

LeeLee Miller: OMG HI MAX! Give me ur cell! I so need 2 text u!

Max Robinson: Not comfortable w/posting it on Internet.

LeeLee Miller: Oh right! I'm so stupid. Sorry. U text me first? 251-844-570.

I smiled and quickly texted her.

Hi LeeLee! Why do people call u LeeLee?

Hey Max! My real name is Laylee. I guess ur real name is Maxine, right?

Right. So I was thinking…

Abs has been acting kind of weird lately. Anything happen camp?

No. I was going 2 ask u if there was anything weird going on w/her BC- U have 2 promise not 2 mention this 2 any1, not even Gabby.

Okay. Swear I won't. Cross my heart.

Good. So Gabby has been hanging w/this really snobby girl named Ashley, and I read your texts and I thought that u were not like Ashley AT ALL. So of course I thought, why is Gabby hanging out w/HER? So I looked u up. And here we r.

Weird. So u think that Ashley is a…criminal? Or is she like a wannabe supermodel or something?

DEFINITELY NOT A CRIMINAL!

Hey Max! Wt up girl? I'm so tired but I wanted 2 text u! ILY!

Hey Camille have u noticed that some of the girls r acting weird?

?

Examples: Silver, Goldie, and Gabby

Well, I haven't really hung out w/any of them yet…

Hey y r u not texting me?

Texting another friend! She's camp 2, in a different cabin. Her name is Camille. Look her up on Internet.

Okay. G2G! My email is

Weird email!

IK it's LeeLee 012 (my boyfriend's football # also my lucky #) LY which stands 4 LOVE YOU! So it's kind of like LeeLee loves you! Now I really have 2 go! I'm actually in a movie theater w/my boyfriend and he will kill me if I don't get off the phone now….Whoops he's reading my text…GO AWAY LUKE, GOSH! I am crazy need 2 get a life who the heck am I texting a stranger arugbaofsuidfsbcnsaubci! SORRY MAX! That was Luke (so immature)! Ok, bye Max! B sure 2 email me ASAP! LEELEELOVESUGF!

I was tired, but not tired enough. I went back on Gmail and them went on Buzz. I looked up LeeLee Miller. There was a picture of some teens for her profile picture. One of them was Gabby. There was another girl with wavy sandy brown hair and brown eyes, and then there was 1 last girl with black hair that had a purple streak through it. They were all laughing. LeeLee was probably the girl with the sandy brown hair. I was right. She had posted another picture of her in a cheerleading uniform. She was in a split with her arms up in the hair. Another picture she had posted was of a bored boy asleep on a couch. And finally the last picture was of the girl with the black hair in the water with Gabby. Something was in the air. A little fleck of purple could be seen right in the air behind black haired girl. It was a little bit sparkly. I wondered what it was. There were a couple of comments underneath it so I read them.

Monique Reeves: UNIQUE MONIQUE IN DA HOUSE! Love the pictures LeeLee!

LeeLee Miller: Thanx, girl! Did u c the 1 of Luke sleeping?

Monique Reeves: LOL yeah. Hilarious!

Luke Stilling:

Haha. Both of u shut up. Ur just jealous of how awesome I am. Monique, what's the purple thing behind ur big head in the picture?

Monique Reeves: Nothing. I think u r seeing things…

Luke Stilling: Impossible! I have perfect vision! Ask LeeLee! Right, Lee?

Monique Reeves: LeeLee, u no he doesn't, right honey?

Luke Stilling: I think LeeLee got a life. She's not really posting anymore…

Monique Reeves: No she didn't. She just got a blog.

Luke Stilling: Anything about me on it?

Monique Reeves: No. She never mentions her rude boyfriend. :P

Luke Stilling: Haha getting a life now.

Monique Reeves: What are u doing?

Luke Stilling: Cheating on LeeLee! Haha JK. IDK. Going 2 go hang with some other boys. Ur killing me.

I would have to find out about the sparkly purple speck later. I could see it too, so I knew Luke wasn't seeing things, and Monique was lying. Obviously something weird was going on with Monique, Gabby, Silver, and Goldie. I was going to find out. Eventually. But even detectives needed their sleep.

I woke up around 5 a.m. I crawled out of bed and grabbed a tank top and capris. Then I went into the nasty bathroom and into the shower. I hung my towel so that anyone who came in wouldn't be able to see me. When I finished showering I pulled my clothes on and put my wet hair in a ponytail. All of a sudden, I starting thinking about how when I went swimming I got the weird feeling, but when I showered I didn't. So maybe there was something in the water that I was allergic to. I wish. That probably wasn't it, because I had gotten that feeling twice, and I hadn't been swimming in the same kind of water both times. I heard some more people getting up. Gabby walked into the bathroom. Her blond hair was in a messy ponytail. She was wearing purple shorts and an oversized tie-dye shirt. Her phone buzzed. She yawned and pulled it out of the back pocket of her shorts. Then I heard another strange buzzing sound coming from the bedroom. It was my phone. I raced out of the bathroom and jumped onto my bed. I shut the phone up before anyone else woke up.

R u up yet? I couldn't sleep last night. –LeeLee-

Yeah. I just finished showering. Gabby is up 2. Max

Cool. So what time do u guys have 2 start activities? LLLY!

In about 30 minutes. Anyway, I have a question.

Okay. Shoot.

Last night, right before I went to bed, I looked u up on buzz. There was a picture of Gabby and Monique (I think that's her name) in the water. There was a sparkly purple speck right behind Monique. What was it? Luke asked 2, and Monique said it was nothing. But I c it 2, so seriously, what the heck is it?

Ur like Nancy Drew, u no that? Well, IDK. Really, I don't have a clue. Monique has been acting weird 2. She never answers my calls or texts. She said her family went 2 Hawaii. I mean, seriously. Yeah right! There is SOMETHING going on. Duh. So how many girls ur camp r acting…weird?

Wow. So I guess I'm not the only crazy 1! My friends r acting weird 2. There's Goldie and Silver. There's also a girl from back home named Carly who acted weird 2. And I have 2 tell u a secret.

Okay. Tell me.

Whenever I go swimming, I get a really weird painful feeling and I start screaming, and I jump out. It feels like someone is pulling me under, someone so much stronger, and I can't escape. It burns really bad!

WOAH! Oh my god, what is going on? Nothing like that has ever happened to me BC…Well BC my mom never lets me go near water unless I'm showering. Her little cousin drowned or something…

Gabby came walking back in. She was wearing shorts and a baggy purple shirt with a white tank top underneath it.

G2G!

I typed quickly.

Okay. Check out my blog! Okay? You really should. I'm going 2 enlarge the photo and post it.

LeeLee

I turned my phone off and beamed at Gabby. "What?" She asked in an annoyed voice.

"So…what's your schedule?" I asked in a perky voice.

"Um…" She handed me a paper. No classes with me. So much for trying to get close to her. Silver was my best hope now. I closed my eyes. When I opened them again Gabby was staring at me, a worried expression on her pretty face. Before I could say anything, Ashley sat up and screamed. "SOMETHING IS BITING MY TOE!"

When we finished examining Ashley's sharp walking to breakfast. In pink toenails, we decided she had been dreaming. Everyone showered and dressed while Ashley hopped around on one foot yelling that something HAD bit her little toe. We all ignored her and started the cafeteria we all sat down at our table. I was in between Maya and Silver. Grace was across from us. She was sitting beside Gabby. On the other side of Gabby sat Ashley who was wearing boots because of the "thing biting her toe". I picked up a burnt waffle that was still soggy somehow and put it on my plate. Megan raced by and placed a pitcher of orange juice on the table. Everyone stared at it. Kari put on a fake smile and bravely pored herself a cup.

"Yum!" She gulped, making a sour face. We all consumed our breakfast with many enthusiastic "yums" to keep Megan's spirits up.

After drama I was exhausted. Emma Grace, Sarah, and I had had to perform our zombie play, and it had gone horribly wrong. I was hopping sports would bring my spirits up even though I wasn't athletic at all. Marian was in charge of sports. She was one of the 10-13 counselors. She decided we were going to do a gymnastics week, and she paired us all up. I got stuck with a girl named Zoe. She was skinny and short, exactly like me. She had brown hair with streaks of blond running through it. We both stood facing each other. "So. Do you…know anything about…gymnastics?" I asked politely.

"Yeah. I love gym." She answered in a bored voice.

"Cool. So…Um…You think you could teach me?" I said hopefully.

"Possibly…" She slowly demonstrated how to do a cartwheel. I tried to copy, but I stumbled over and fell on my head.

"Ha. You'd make a horrible mer-I mean gymnast!" Zoe said as she generously helped me up. I rubbed my head.

"I agree." I wondered what she had been about to say. What started with mer? Murderer? No, that wouldn't work because first of all Zoe was clearly NOT a murderer even though she was a bit mean. And second of all, I was no genius, but it sounded like she had said MER not MUR, so that would not make any sense. I decided to add Zoe to my list of people to watch carefully which now consisted of Monique, Silver, Goldie, Carly, Gabby, and Zoe. I was going to need eyes in the back of my head!

Almost got it…the glitter slipped from my numb hand and spilled all over my Nike shorts. I was sore and tired from sports, which made me clumsy and careless in Arts & Crafts. Maya glanced at the mess I was making.

"Uh oh. Magi will NOT be happy with you, Max." She pointed out.

"I know." I put the construction paper down and stood up, all the glitter flying off my clothes.

"Where are you going?" Maya asked as she stood up and dusted herself off.

"Places. Cover for me, will you?" I raced out the door. I ran into the cabin and changed into a swimsuit. At the last minute I pulled my Nike shorts over the swimsuit. Without bothering to grab my towel, I rushed over to the lake. When I got there, I dipped my hand in the water. Nothing happened. I was busy experimenting with the water and my body when I heard footsteps behind me. "What are YOU doing here?"

I turned around. To my surprise, Gabby and Zoe were standing there glaring at me. "What, is this your private spa?" I asked sarcastically, trying to show them they didn't scare me. It didn't work. My pitiful voice shook. They both glanced at each other, as if to say, _should we tell her? YES! _I wanted to reply. _Yes, you should!_ But I kept my mouth shut. They both advanced towards me.

"Why aren't you in Arts & Crafts?" Gabby asked. I looked at her in surprise. How did SHE know I was supposed to be in Arts & Crafts? "Hey! You guys! You won't believe what we-"

"Figured out! It's amazing! I mean, seriously, you won't believe it!"

"I ALREADY SAID THAT!"

"Whatever!" The familiar voices surprised me, but not too much. Goldie and Silver ran towards us. They didn't seem too surprised to see me sitting by Zoe. Gabby was pacing back and forth. Silver sat down on a rock across from me and Goldie plopped down next to me, resting her dirty bare feet in the water. All of a sudden they started changing. They turned gold and were transforming even more when Gabby barked, "GOLDIE! Get your dang feet out of the water!" Goldie looked down and quickly pulled her now golden feet out of the water.

"We'll have to tell her eventually." She said. I had no idea what she was talking about, but I still wanted to be told!

"Yes, but would Cori agree?" Zoe asked in a worried voice. Their accents had changed a little bit for some reason. They didn't sound American anymore. They sounded almost British, but not quite. Where were they REALLY from?

"I'm not sure…She might. Possibly. Why don't you go look for her, Sabina?" Sabina? What the heck was Silver talking about?

"What about…the mortal?" HUH? So Gabby was Sabina? And had she just called me a MORTAL? One word, WHAT?

"We'll distract Max. GO! I'm sure you will bump into Monique along the way." Zoe's voice was the friendliest out of all their cold crisp voices. And Monique. THERE was a familiar name! But what did LeeLee have to do with all of this? Other than the fact that she was "Sabina's" best friend. Goldie picked up a rock and threw it at Silver. Or it looked like a rock. Silver read the "rock" and passed it to Zoe. Zoe was so close that I just had to crane my neck a little and…SPLASH! Gabby, also known as Sabina to these weirdoes, jumped into the water so that I couldn't see her. She started swimming far out. I stared after her. Dang, they were good! Zoe laughed and threw the rock back into the water. "What is going on?" I asked her.

"You'll learn. Eventually." She said. Goldie and Silver were sitting really still. Well, Silver had her head dunked in the water, and Goldie was staring out at the horizon, but if you count that as still, yeah. Zoe was texting someone, but I could not see what she was texting. I was so distracted I didn't hear the footsteps behind me.

"What are you 4 doing here? Get back to your activities! On second thought, I should probably take you to Ms. Judy…. Yeah, that's what I'll do." Kari grabbed all of our hands and pulled us to our doom.

I had never been to Ms. Judy's office. I was a good girl! I had never even SEEN Ms. Judy. The office was another small-unused cabin. Ms. Judy's desk was in the middle of it with a computer on it. Across from the desk were 6 chairs. We all sat down. The 6th chair was vacant which reminded me that Gabby was somewhere out there in the lake, which led to an ocean. A young woman opened the door and came in. We all turned to stare at her. "Hi Ms. Judy!" Kari yelped, jumping up.

"Hi…Kari. Nice to see you…all." She replied hesitantly.

"You too!" Kari beamed and we all rolled our eyes.

"I'm Max," I said, standing up. Silver, Zoe, and Goldie rose too.

"I'm Silver."

"And I'm Goldie."

"And I'm Zoe." Ms. Judy stared at us all for a second and said,

"And what brings you lovely girls here today?"

"I found them sitting by the lake instead of participating in their activities!" Kari announced. Ms. Judy's eyes kind of rolled up in her sockets, in a creepy way so that you could only see the whites of her eyes. Then she jumped up and stood on the desk. Her arm went up in the air like she was some sort of super hero. We all stared at her.

"So? You shouldn't have interrupted them! They were obviously getting some fresh air and spending some time together unlike those other obedient boring doofuses." Kari stared at her like she was crazy and then said,

"Right. I knew that. I'll just…put them back then…"

"YOU DO THAT!" Ms. Judy yelled as Kari pushed us out the door.

"Wow. What a nice first meeting…I LIKE her." Zoe said cheerfully. Goldie, Silver, and I laughed even though I had no idea why they all seemed so happy all of a sudden. Kari waved.

"I'll see you guys at lunch." She said in a threatening kind of way.

"Okay! Bye!" Goldie called after her. They started walking back to the lake. I followed them, assuming that they wanted me to. At the lake, we all sat down again. They all stared out at the lake. I stared too, unsure about what we were looking for. Just then, Gabby burst out of the water with slightly golden feet. Monique jumped out behind her with slightly purple feet the color of sparkly grapes. "Hi girls. This is Max?" Monique asked politely. Her black hair was soaked. It flowed past her shoulders and down her back. A purple flower laid comfortably in it. It was as beautiful as Gabby's hair even though they looked nothing alike. Gabby nodded in reply to Monique's question. To my surprise Monique frowned and said, "Isn't she a bit…too small to be Max?" No one had commented on that yet. I looked nothing alike them. But how did MONIQUE, one of LeeLee and Gabby's friends know about ME? And it was a bit weird how their feet were different colors and they had just burst out of the water… But I didn't want to think about that.

"No. I mean, look at me." Zoe replied. I admired her for defending me.

"But you're just ZOE. She's MAX." Monique exclaimed. I admit, it made me feel good since the way she said it indicated that I was much more important than Zoe, but I felt bad since Zoe had been the only one with enough guts to stand up for me. Silver sighed.

"Let's tell Max already!" I was used to their weird accents by now.

"It's almost lunch time! TELL HER!" Zoe exclaimed. I understood their accent enough by now to realize that there was a hint of panic in her voice.

"Cori will KILL us!" Goldie yelled.

"_I _know Cori better than all of you, and I HAPPEN to know that she would think you are being selfish, evil, brats by not telling Max by now! You've let her live a lie for FIFTEEN DARN YEARS! If you don't tell her soon, _I'm_ going to tell her!" By now Zoe was yelling too.

"WHY are you saying YOU? Are you indicating that YOU have had NO part in this? WE have lived in secret for FIFTEEN DARN YEARS too! And _I'm _not going to mess it all up and be turned into a snail all because little ZOE got impatient!" Gabby screamed. Silver stood up too.

"Look who's talking! Shut up Gabby! You've only lived with this for a year! Zoe has been through so much more than you! Everyone has! Even MAX has a harder life. SO you can just SHUT UP while we explain to her, or you can walk out of here RIGHT NOW. You see, we don't need you. YOU have never been an important part to this mission. In fact, you have been a nuisance that Cori made us drag around because she felt bad for you!" I didn't know Silver could shout that loud...Monique and Goldie stood up at the same time.

"So Max…" Monique said. After all that screaming and yelling I could barely hear her voice.

"We are going to tell you everything." Goldie completed. Gabby sat down, a defeated expression on her beautiful face.

"When I was born, I was not born in America. None of us were, except for you and Gabby."

"We weren't even born on land." I had closed my eyes so I didn't know who was saying what. I didn't WANT to know. I just wanted to hear the story.

"Obviously if we were not born on land we were born in the water."

"For you and Gabby, it was the other way. We knew no other life." I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, but I kept on listening.

"A few days after I was born, I met 5 other girls. Cori, Monique, Silver, Goldie, and Herzl became my best friends."

"When we were 12, Herzl died. A prophecy was told-"

"Shh! We have to TELL her first!"

"Fine. Max, you might have seen the Little Mermaid, Ariel. Well, being a mermaid isn't exactly like that but…. Max, we're mermaids." Of course! I wasn't even shocked. It made so much sense! The wet hair, 'fear of water', disappearing suddenly, eating so little normal food…

"And YOU'RE a mermaid." THIS was the part that shocked me. But it did make sense. How I got the tingly feeling in my legs. It explained everything!

"But you're different. For Gabby, her father was a mermaid, so she was a semi mer. But for you, you're Grandmother was a mermaid. She had you're mother who ignored the fact that she was a semi mer. She gave birth to you, and she ignored the fact that YOU are also a semi mer."

"Our father's were humans. 15 years ago, when we were born, there were many semi mers. Now, it is extremely rare. In fact, when Herzl died, it became extremely rare."

"Herzl's death caused panic. Like in America we have a president and a first family, we have a president and a first family under water. Herzl was the first daughter. Cori, short for Coral is her twin, who is still alive."  
"If Coral was a semi mer, she would be here right now telling the tale herself. But Coral is not a semi mer, so we, her best friends, got stuck with the mission."

"You see your grandmother was Guinn's best friend. Which made you practically family to him. At first, the mission wasn't very important. The prophecy after Herzl's death was about a girl…who would be able to bring back Herzl's spirit. Guinn, like any sensible ruler, thought this was crazy and immediately banished the woman who told it from his kingdom."

"But when Silver, Goldie, and was Carly her name? Well when they found you they realized something was weird about you. Normal semi mers and mermaids and mermen give off this weird signal. If you are around another semi mer or merperson and you KNOW that you are a merperson you can just FEEL it. You KNOW it."

"But we felt it much stronger than usual. Well, not stronger. It was just DIFFERENT. It almost HURT to be around you. If we didn't keep our thoughts straight or if we didn't FOCUS around you, panic would start taking over. It felt like you were digging into our minds. Carly had a panic attack. She couldn't manage it. Guinn pulled her off the case."

"When we told Guinn about your weird feeling, he panicked too. The old woman might have been right! Herzl was the first heir to the throne, and Cori really doesn't want to rule, so if we could bring Herzl back…. You have NO idea how great that would be. For the whole kingdom." They all stopped talking. It appeared that their story was finished. I opened my eyes.

"So what do you want ME to do?" They all stared. Then, Gabby stood up and said,

"Well, we could take you under water and ask Guinn. You are a mermaid so that should be no problem. BUT you can't tell anyone."

"Agreed. This is a secret." I said. Who would I tell anyway?

Chapter 8

What was I thinking?

I couldn't concentrate on anything. I kept thinking about Herzl and Guinn…It was all so amazing! Imagine, there was a whole different intelligent species under water that we had never noticed! It was too much to digest at one time, even for me. By the time I crawled into my lumpy bed everyone was fed up with me for messing everything up. I was tired and I had completely forgotten about LeeLee, so when my phone buzzed because of a text from her I was surprised.

Hey Max? Did u find out anything?

Um…Nope.

Aw. Good night then.

Oh. OK. G'dnight LL!

As soon as I turned my phone off, I knocked myself out because I was so tired.

The next morning, when I woke up, I pulled on a purple tie-dyed shirt and some black shorts. I raced out side, hoping to find Zoe, Goldie, Silver, and Gabby waiting for me. Sadly no one was there. So I kept on walking until I got to the lake. And there they were. Zoe wore a white tank top and blue soffees. Then beside her sat Goldie who was wearing a yellow polo shirt with black shorts. Silver had her head dipped in water for some reason. Good thing she was wearing a pink water proof shirt and a black cheerleading athletic skirt. To my surprise, Monique was right beside them, wearing a **Camp Cali 4 girls! **T-shirt with blue running shorts. Apparently she had registered over night. Finally, Gabby stood gazing at the horizon in a shirt that said _**BELIEVE…IN EVERYTHING!**_Why did that not surprise me? Amazing, the things a shirt can tell you. Anyway, Zoe stood up and said, "So are we gonna do it or what?"

"Do WHAT?" I asked in a panicked voice. Now that I knew they were mermaids/semi-mers, blah blah blah, 'Are we going to do it?' could mean anything.

"Heck, yeah! Let's get to work! Gabs, why don't you go back to your cabin and take it from there, like we discussed." Monique exclaimed.  
"OK. Fine." Gabby didn't look very happy about what she was about to do. She stormed off, kicking pebbles and dirt along the way. Silver and Goldie stood up. "Are we all going?" The twins asked at the same time.

"No, I think a few people should stay…behind. You know, to cover for us, etc." Monique appeared to be in charge of this…plan.

"Oh, yeah. Why don't I?" Goldie suggested.

"'Kay, cool. Zoe, Max, Silver, and me can go then. Come over here, Max." Monique instructed. I stumbled over to her while Goldie walked away. "We're going to take you underwater to meet Cori and Guinn and the others. Your legs will transform underwater, and you'll be able to breathe. Just follow us. Silver and Zoe stood up too.

"HERE WE GO!" Silver yelled. She grabbed Zoe's hand and they jumped into the lake together. Monique grinned at me. She also grabbed my shaking hand and dragged me over to the edge, so we were almost in the water.

"ALL HAIL HERZL!" And we jumped.

Underwater, my legs actually did transform. Since I had been expecting it this time, it didn't pain as much. I just had a little tingly feeling, and my legs…changed. I wanted to stop and look at them, but Monique pulled me along. We swam deeper and deeper and deeper, until I was sure there was no deeper. Finally, we arrived at a big castle. Well, I guessed it was a castle. It was nothing like I had thought it would be like. It wasn't made of seashells, it didn't glow, and pretty red headed mermaids weren't combing their long hair with forks outside it. It appeared to be made of gravel, with a wooden door. It was nothing majestic or sparkly, just a big house. Monique seemed to know her way around well. She knocked on the wood door. A pretty golden haired girl that looked to be my age opened it. She looked completely normal. In fact, she was even wearing a _SAVE THE WHALES AND NO ONE GETS HURT!_T-shirt, but when I looked farther down, she had a gold and purple tale where her legs should have been, which was kind of creepy, once you think about it. But then again, I had a tale sprouting out of me too… "MONIQUE! Whose this?" She asked in a voice that had the same strange accent as all the other mermaids/semi-mers that I knew.

"This is Max. Max, this is Coral, Herzl's sister."

"MAX? You finally found her and brought her here! We have to tell father and get to work REALLY soon!" Coral led us inside. We followed her to a room. When she opened the door I saw that it was her bedroom. The walls were covered in magazine covers, newspaper clippings, posters, and pictures. The bed was white with little blue, yellow, green, pink, and purple flowers scattered all over it. Then there was a desk (with a chair), a dressing table, and a closet. "Max, come here." Coral reached under her bed and pulled out a white box. HERZL was written on the cover. She tenderly pried the lid off it. I glanced quickly around the room, looking for Monique. She had disappeared. Coral handed me a folded up pieces of paper and a pink and blue book. I opened the papers and began to read.

_Whoever finds this letter:_

_I think I'm going to die soon. Pleasant thought, eh? Problem is, I'm not kidding. I don't know what's happening. I feel so…well so SICK! I'm not going to live much longer, for sure. Coral, I know you'll find this eventually since you're always going through my stuff. Or if I'm dead by the time you read this then you always WERE going through my stuff. And if you DO find this when I'm dead, just want to say, HI FROM DEAD HERZL! Ha ha. You know, I'm in an awfully good mood for someone who's dying…like, dying ASAP! You must be crying a lot, whoever you are. You know, since I'm dead or sick or whatever. I know I'm great and you'll miss me (ha ha) but could you get a life and stop reading my PERSONAL stuff? Even if I'm dead, you need to respect my privacy! Anyway, when I die, I'm going to miss my girls sooo much! I love you Coral, Monique, Silver, Goldie, Zoe, and Sabrina! So if you guys are reading this, don't go and commit suicide or something cause you miss me so much! In fact, I'm kind of happy I'm dead/dying cause now I don't have to worry about my future like you guys do! I mean, I know Coral would become queen, not me, cause, let's' face it; I'm not very "queen like". And Cori, honey, you are. __ I'm still (was) awesome though! BUT I'm happy I won't have anything to worry about any more…I WILL miss everyone SO MUCH! I really wonder what happens when you die…Maybe I'll write after I die and tell you! So I better go now, Cori just walked in and I don't think she'll be so happy if she finds out I'm writing in dying tense (is there a such thing?)! Bye…forever, I guess. Um…Love you, whoever you happen to be. KISSES & HUGZ! _

_H__erzl __A__driana__ G__uinn (HAG! LOL) _

I have to admit; I felt some tears drop when I read that. I handed the letter to Cori and opened the pink and blue book.

_What the date? Can't remember. Forget it! Somewhere in 2007, okay? OKAY!_

_Dear Diary,_

_HAG here! That is so funny that my initials are hag…people used to tease me about that! But now I'm an awesome 11 years old, they wouldn't DARE TEASE ME! Or would they? HEEHEE! CORI STAY OUT OF MY FRICKIN' DIARY PPULLLEEEEEZ! Oh sorry diary just put that in for my annoying twin, Cori. Now don't get me wrong, Cori is TOTALLY my home girl, but we're still siblings and it's not like we never fight! PSH that would be IMPOSSIBLE! I'm going to call this diary LIFE AS A MERMAID! Yes, I know diaries don't normally have titles, but just in case I sell it when I'm famous or something…. I have to go. Cori wants to go to the mall for some reason. BYE!  
HAG_

_Dear Diary,_

_Still don't know the date. Sometime during the summer of 2007. Anyway, yesterday Cori wanted to go to the mall cause some dude name Jenson (he apparently goes to our school. Whatever!) was going to be there (A.K.A. working there). It was sooo boring, but our dad won't let us go anywhere alone and she had to take me (against my will). So now I have to do summer reading. UGH! TTYL!  
HAG_

_Dear Diary,_

_I NEED A FRICKIN' CALENDAR! So let's just say it's the day after my last entry, okay? Okay then! I meet this girl named Zoe today. She's really cool! She's like a semi mermaid or something, which is awesomeness in my opinion! Gawd I wish I was her! She's prettier than me, I think. Oh here's what I look like: Black hair, hazel eyes, freckles, skinny-ish, pale, average height. Don't I sound beautiful? Yesterday night we had to have dinner with Dad's old friend. His name was Dr. Dodd or something like that. So he said that semi mermaids exist as much as we do! Isn't that cool? So Zoe is his daughter, and he brought her over here today morning! She was really funny and just…GREAT! I hope I can see her again soon, ASAP! I think she lives mostly on the surface, and she even goes to school there! Everyone tells me I'm like the Little Mermaid cause I want to go up to the surface and just…well, be a human for one day! That would be a DREAM come true! I have to go now; I promised I would speak at some children's summer school. _

_The Little Mermaid (born again!)_

_June 28, 2007_

_Dear Herzl's Diary,_

_Cori here. Herzl lost this thing a month ago. I just found it under her pile of clothes, which was under her bed. Just thought I'D write in it…just because I found it and Herzl is out with some friends. I have to admit, I'm a little jealous of her because she has so many friends and well…I don't. Everyone thinks I'm too stuck up. They never want to talk to me, and Herzl is so popular, it's embarrassing! What does she have that I don't? I'm just pretty and queen like. Herzl has brains, good humor, and friends. Everything anyone could ever want in life! Still she thinks she's missing something inside, like she's sick. What if she is? What then? What if she DIES? I will have no one to cheer me up. I won't have anyone. Herzl is the only one I trust. She has so many friends. She shouldn't DIE! If anyone should die, it should be me. Really. I'm practically worthless. Other than the fact that I'm future queen, I'm not good for anything else. I can't DO anything. I'm sure Herzl would be a good queen. Oh my gosh. God, just take me now! _

_**C**_oral_ S_heila_ G_uinn

Future queen of Anomia

Sister to Herzl

Daughter of King Guinn

Wisher of friends

Queen of lost souls


End file.
